Why it's too early for AlphaTauri to consider releasing de Vries

Imagine enduring years of being overlooked for a Formula 1 drive, despite a glittering CV. Finally, that opportunity does come along. But then, five races into that belated F1 career, stories suggest that there’s a risk of dropping off the grid once again, amid a difficult start with a capricious car. This is Nyck de Vries’ F1 tenure in a nutshell, if recent chatter is to be believed.

There’s no escaping that de Vries’ start to life with AlphaTauri has been less than felicitous, and the Dutchman has yet to reach the benchmark he set in 2022 during his Monza cameo for Williams in place of Alex Albon, where he made the points with ninth. By contrast, the opening quintet of races has been scoreless, while the usual rookie growing pains with uncompetitive machinery have escalated somewhat in the gruelling Baku-Miami double-header.

In the revised sprint weekend format in Azerbaijan, where running was already at a premium, de Vries suffered a Q1 crash around the tricky Baku streets to compound that misery further. Visibly lacking the confidence that team-mate Yuki Tsunoda had over the weekend, de Vries then misjudged Turn 5 during the race and broke his front suspension on the inside wall, coming to rest just shy of the Turn 6 exit wall.

His Miami race proved to be another missed opportunity, despite qualifying strongly. De Vries broke into Q2 to start ahead of Tsunoda, but a first-corner lock-up on race day thrust him into contact with Lando Norris. “He needs to try braking a little bit earlier,” the Briton mused acerbically, unimpressed by the touch, which was later deemed a racing incident.

The Frieslander certainly needs something to stop the rot. Whether that’s a more trigger-happy braking foot, or Lady Luck to intervene and help him break out of a difficult moment, he's probably not picky at this stage. As F1 becomes increasingly partisan, there will be a handful of fans calling for his head already. Perhaps with ulterior motives: hoping for the emergence of Red Bull youngsters Liam Lawson or Ayumu Iwasa, or an unlikely return for Daniel Ricciardo. However, any decision to cut de Vries loose this early would not be the right one at this point.

De Vries is capable of much more in his performances. He’s self-aware enough to recognise that and, despite Helmut Marko’s approach to driver management, which has a reputation for being volatile, the grands fromages at Red Bull and AlphaTauri are experienced enough to recognise that they must first give de Vries the tools and the chance to dig himself out of a hole.

The Dutch driver is already feeling the pressure of racing in F1

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

After all, this is a driver who comes into F1 on a full-time basis having spent the past few seasons driving vastly different machinery. Practice runs and race cameos in 2022 will have helped de Vries acclimatise to a certain point, but jumping into a fleet of Mercedes-powered cars with different systems would have offered limited preparation for the Honda-powered AlphaTauri AT04.

The transition from Formula E to F1 is a path seldom trodden, particularly as the format and the driving styles are completely different. Going in either direction, a driver must reprogramme themselves to adapt. Consider the struggles that Antonio Giovinazzi had in adapting to Formula E, where the amiable Italian spent many a press gathering in the first half of his rookie season explaining how difficult the championship was. Making the reverse move is just as difficult to pull off.

De Vries was a champion in the all-electric series. Sure, he completed the feat in a season renowned for its entropic nature, but he nonetheless beat the regular frontrunners on merit throughout that year. Last season was considerably more difficult for de Vries as Mercedes team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne took the limelight, and the reigning champion's impressive start to the season was punctuated by errors and occasionally clumsy battles at close quarters.

"Nyck's got an awful lot of experience in other formulas and also experience testing and driving other people's F1 cars. And his feedback's good" Jody Egginton

This came as de Vries was at a crossroads in his career and had F1 practice sessions lined up throughout that year, a conciliatory prize given he’d missed out on the Williams drive to Albon. But he was also considering his future in Formula E, with Mercedes due to depart. He was hoping for progression from his Toyota reserve role in the World Endurance Championship as well as exploring options in the US after an IndyCar test with Meyer Shank Racing.

That the F1 gig arrived, following his heroic turn at Monza last year, may have come as a slight surprise. De Vries had never stopped dreaming that it would happen - but was level-headed enough to realise the odds were dwindling. By that stage, his intent was to link up with the Maserati MSG squad in Formula E (formerly Venturi) to partner Edoardo Mortara. Instead it was to be Maximilian Guenther who joined the Italo-Monegasque outfit, as the Maserati name returned to single-seater racing for the first time since the 1960s.

If his Formula E results weren’t enough for others to believe de Vries was worthy of snapping up his AlphaTauri drive, then surely his Formula 2 results were. Many obtusely choose to employ the relatively weak 2019 field, which de Vries beat to the F2 title, as a stick to beat him with - but they’re looking at the wrong year.

His 2018 display was arguably the more impressive season, in which he was part of a four-man band for race wins with Norris, Albon and eventual title winner George Russell. A championship surge arguably arrived too late for de Vries, as the Prema squad struggled to get on top of a troublesome new car, but he was particularly strong in the second half of the year.

De Vries clinched his F2 title in 2019 but his showing in the previous year arguably stands out more

His performance in the Hungaroring feature race that year was surely the standout. He overturned Norris’ roaring start in wet-dry conditions, converting a 14-second deficit by their mid-race pitstops for slicks with a 30-second swing to beat his then-fellow McLaren junior. It was a stellar result that ignited the late-season turnaround in form for himself and Prema, but early season struggles with tyre management had already left de Vries behind the eight ball in the points standings.

The key tools in de Vries’ arsenal are still there: an ability to battle hard and an ability to control races with scintillating pace. But amid the transition from Formula E to F1 and the difficulties of the AlphaTauri machinery, he hasn’t been able to show those traits. Instead, these challenges have only brought out his less-desirable qualities, among those a penchant to misjudge passing moves or rely too much on bravado to overcome gaps in performance.

If those can be ironed out, then de Vries can start to repay the faith in him shown by Marko and Franz Tost on-track. Off it, he is studiously proving his worth – which is the side that the public rarely sees.

It was mentioned during media coverage of pre-season testing that de Vries had, after experiencing last year’s AlphaTauri car in the end-of-year Abu Dhabi running, presented the engineers with a list of things he felt could be improved. Despite initial promise, last year’s AT03 had regressed throughout the season and had not been particularly receptive to upgrades either. De Vries’ ideas had initially taken the team aback, but Tost backed his new driver’s feedback and direction. It was arguably too late to have too much of an effect on the 2023 car, but will be apparent in the forthcoming updates to the AT04’s floor.

"I think he has [delivered on his development promise]," reckoned AlphaTauri technical chief Jody Egginton. "Nyck has got a lot of experience. He's only done one race in Formula 1 before joining us, but he's got an awful lot of experience in other formulas and also experience testing and driving other people's F1 cars. And his feedback's good. He's forming a clear picture of what he wants from the car as he learns the car. And he's helping us move the development forward, so it's a big contribution already together with Yuki."

Ian James, de Vries’ former team principal in Formula E, was similarly effusive about his feedback behind closed doors. Speaking to Autosport at December’s Valencia FE test, the now-McLaren boss had predicted that AlphaTauri would benefit from de Vries’ qualities and had the character to hold his own in the world of F1.

"I think [de Vries' promotion] is so richly deserved," James said. "He was somebody that we took a look at before coming in for Season 6 and recognised his qualities, not only as a driver, but as a team player.

De Vries starred in Formula E, taking the title in 2020-2021 to demonstrate his credentials

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

"Any team that he drives for is going to benefit from that approach. He has a way of saying what needs to be said, pointing out where improvements can be made, but doing it in a diplomatic fashion that doesn't get people's backs up. That's quite an important quality in a driver, and especially a driver that's going into a team which maybe hasn't quite realised its full potential yet and has room to grow.

"I think that he's going to be very well positioned, notwithstanding Formula 1 is a different series. It's brutal, and I think he's going to have his work cut out, but his character will stand him in good stead."

So if de Vries comes with such glowing reviews, why hasn’t it quite worked out so far? It’s still way too early to come to a definitive conclusion, and the other rookies on the F1 grid have hardly enjoyed an easy run of it in the opening barrage of races either. Oscar Piastri and Logan Sargeant have also endured their own difficulties in adapting to F1: limited testing cannot have helped the trio’s causes, and practice sessions have simply become a means for them to catch up.

Although patience has sometimes been short supply in the Red Bull-run teams, de Vries needs the team to exercise it as he continues to get up to speed

Furthermore, the narrative surrounding de Vries was always going to be difficult to live up to. Observers impatient with Tsunoda expected him to beat the Japanese driver. But Tsunoda has been a revelation in 2023, and the departure of Pierre Gasly from the squad has arguably been the making of the diminutive third-year racer. Tsunoda says he has taken on the responsibility of trying to lead the team through a difficult period, as the AT04 is one of the least potent cars on the grid.

Tsunoda has raised his game considerably, then, and de Vries has been made to look a little bit average in comparison. But this is something that the Dutchman can respond to, and outqualifying his younger team-mate in Miami was a start. Imola is next and, thanks to the proximity to AlphaTauri’s Faenza base, de Vries has at least been able to experience the track in the Italian squad’s 2021 car. It’s an opportunity to reset at a familiar venue where he has driven F1 machinery.

Although patience has sometimes been in short supply in the Red Bull-run teams, de Vries needs the team to exercise it as he continues to get up to speed. His technical feedback has at least ensured that he is not completely expendable, and AlphaTauri will need de Vries to keep pitching in as it attempts to address its slide to the back of the grid.

It’s not a wholly co-dependent relationship, but de Vries is still needed by the team – as much as he needs the team to have his back. His job is to ensure that, when his knowledge and experience yields diminishing returns, his performances are no longer of concern to those in control of the drivers’ fortunes.

If de Vries can cut out the errors and gain patience from Red Bull, he could have a long future in F1

Photo by: Michael Potts / Motorsport Images